Would you cruise if only ports were private islands?

[George C]

11 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

If you do decide to possibly cruise MSC, look into The Yacht Club.  There are suites, balcony and inside options.  it's basically a ship within a ship concept similar to the Haven on NCL, but at a much better price point.

We loved yacht club on seaside in November and are booked again on seaside for this November a total bargain considering what you get. Lots of space in lounge with love music and private pool and spa area , also free drinks and internet and fun private island with great service and food for YC. 

Edited June 16, 2020 by George C

[ontheweb]

1 minute ago, sparks1093 said:

Being landlocked as we are DW doesn't get to the beach as often as she'd like during the year. 

We are not near any ocean, but our adult son has beach rights at a lake plus there is another lake in a state park not that far from us and a local pool that is very close. Don't know how many of these will open this year.

[sparks1093]

12 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

We are not near any ocean, but our adult son has beach rights at a lake plus there is another lake in a state park not that far from us and a local pool that is very close. Don't know how many of these will open this year.

DW doesn't consider it a beach unless it's connected to an ocean.🤪

[HBE4]

19 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

Being landlocked as we are DW doesn't get to the beach as often as she'd like during the year. 

 

How far is the nearest ocean beach? I routinely make the 1 1/2 - 2 hour trip  (one way) to the nearest beach just for the day. Sometimes we pack a change of clothing, rinse off at the showers and grab dinner on the way back. Make an all-day trip out of it.

 

Heck, when I was younger, in shape and more energetic, I'd drive 2 1/2 hours to Vermont (Mt Snow) to an entire day of skiing and drive home the same night.

 

2 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

DW doesn't consider it a beach unless it's connected to an ocean.🤪

 

I agree with your DW.  Ocean, lake and pool in that order. And the pool has to be on  cruise ship or at a casino, otherwise it's just a waste of getting wet.

 

[sparks1093]

21 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

How far is the nearest ocean beach? I routinely make the 1 1/2 - 2 hour trip  (one way) to the nearest beach just for the day. Sometimes we pack a change of clothing, rinse off at the showers and grab dinner on the way back. Make an all-day trip out of it.

 

Heck, when I was younger, in shape and more energetic, I'd drive 2 1/2 hours to Vermont (Mt Snow) to an entire day of skiing and drive home the same night.

 

 

I agree with your DW.  Ocean, lake and pool in that order. And the pool has to be on  cruise ship or at a casino, otherwise it's just a waste of getting wet.

 

I haven't mapped it out but probably 4 hours to one of the NH beaches. I would broach it as a possibility but DW doesn't tolerate long car rides the way she used to because of her back issues (although she might be willing to do it if a beach was in the picture). We have discussed doing a weekend away at a beach but it hasn't come to fruition yet for a variety of different reasons. We do have a pool in the backyard so that does help, a little. 

[LMADAMS91]

4 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

Being landlocked as we are DW doesn't get to the beach as often as she'd like during the year. 

We are landlocked as well and have cold, nasty winters.  I love the beach, but I don't like to see/do the same stuff over and over again.  There's only so much a private island/beach can offer.  I could maybe do a few days of beach stuff but I'd get pretty antsy pretty quickly.  

[SNJCruisers]

5 hours ago, HBE4 said:

And the pool has to be on  cruise ship or at a casino, otherwise it's just a waste of getting wet.

 

Is adjacent to the ship OK?  The meandering pool at Harvest Caye by NCL is fantastic, followed by those at Grand Turk and Amber Cove.

[sparks1093]

2 hours ago, LMADAMS91 said:

We are landlocked as well and have cold, nasty winters.  I love the beach, but I don't like to see/do the same stuff over and over again.  There's only so much a private island/beach can offer.  I could maybe do a few days of beach stuff but I'd get pretty antsy pretty quickly.  

One beach day per cruise generally does it for us but I still wouldn't be opposed to a cruise that called only on private islands, especially if it means that I get out of here in the winter time.

[navybankerteacher]

6 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

I haven't mapped it out but probably 4 hours to one of the NH beaches. I would broach it as a possibility but DW doesn't tolerate long car rides the way she used to because of her back issues (although she might be willing to do it if a beach was in the picture). We have discussed doing a weekend away at a beach but it hasn't come to fruition yet for a variety of different reasons. We do have a pool in the backyard so that does help, a little. 

To call something a “beach”, aside  from needing a wide strip of real, native sand I think the presence of salt water is almost a sine qua non.  While Rye beach is pretty good, it is in the same category as nearby Ogunquit:  too damn cold (with the possible exception of one of the last days in August or first days in September - after a hot Summer). I do not think any beach north of Cape Cod really makes it

[ontheweb]

7 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

DW doesn't consider it a beach unless it's connected to an ocean.🤪

It is still swimming! Though DW does wistfully talk of going to Jones Beach for a day. Probably about 140 miles give or take each way  and tolls.

[HBE4]

1 hour ago, SNJCruisers said:

Is adjacent to the ship OK?  The meandering pool at Harvest Caye by NCL is fantastic, followed by those at Grand Turk and Amber Cove.

 

Sure,  that works. I always make exceptions for lazy rivers, water slides and swim up bars.🙂

[George C]

When we bought our current and previous house we told real estate agent don’t even show us a house without a pool, luckily we can use it 6 months out of the year. Grew up in NYC love Dallas weather, but miss the food.

[RonOhio]

On 5/6/2020 at 5:59 PM, navybankerteacher said:

The "average" consumes 34 drinks per day????? That would have to mean that the responsible drinkers -say 10 or 12 drinks per day (which comes close to identifying as a "problem drinker") must be offset by many who drink more than 40 or so to generate that average.

 

Because there are simply not that many reports of fatal alcohol poisoning on cruise ships, the only response is that that bar manager is either full of crap or has been seriously misquoted.

 

On our last cruise, I ordered drink while playing trivia. My wife said, "No, he's got one 1/2 full right here." To which I responded, "The ice melted, bring me a cold one!" When we leave the bar, casino, show to go back to the cabin for the night, we each get a drink, which is usually on the table the next morning with a couple sips gone.  Bottom line, with a beverage package, I order a lot of drinks that I waste. When I'm paying $12 a drink, I adhere to the old "good to the last drop" philosophy. 

[RonOhio]

We go to the Caribbean area once or twice a year, our trips to Eleuthera in May and the Dominican Republic in August have been, sadly, cancelled this year.  I know the Bahamas are in the Atlantic not the Caribbean, but I said "Caribbean area". We VRBO a house on the beach and a car for week or two. Find the where the local fishermen bring in their catch, shop at the markets, eat in the restaurants, snorkel and scuba, drink at the clubs and geocache all over the island. 

We have gone on six or so Caribbean cruises. On the cruises, we look for islands that we'd like to visit for the longer stays.  So we'd have no interest in a Caribbean cruise that only goes to a cruise line operated island. Frankly, I don't understand the attraction of the private islands, if I wanted to look at a bunch of Americans playing, I could go to Six Flags. Certainly, it can be dangerous to wander in unknown cities if you're not alert to your surroundings and we have cancelled trips (Haiti and Egypt) when the civil authorities lost control but the wonder of travel isn't playing beach volleyball with other tourists on a private island (although I'll never forget the redhead in the striped bikini), it's eating jerk chicken in a "restaurant" which is the living room of a tiny house with four unmatched tables and 15 unmatched chairs, it's buying a painting from a sidewalk display because it exactly captures how the town looks to you,  it's your rental car getting stuck in pothole the size of a bathtub and 6 locals building a ramp out of stones, pushing you out and refusing any tips. I mean it was great to see the Pyramids of Giza, the Taj Mahal, Angkor Wat and the Aurora Borealis but the thousands of little, unplanned interactions with the locals and their cultures are my reason to travel.

 

[sworn to fun]

The unplanned interactions with the locals and their cultures hit the nail right on the head. It truly is the reason we travel this huge marble called earth. We were on an adventure that took us out to the coast of Haiti on wave runners and a group of locals in canoes paddled out to us. They were selling hand made goods out of their canoe and they only knew one word which was Please. We made a connection with them not through words but with feelings. I asked to purchase an item on one persons canoe, but he picked out something else for me. It was a hand made beaded rosary with a wooden cross. He wanted to put it on my neck since he chose it for me. I have worn that hand made rosary for the last 7 years around my neck and survived a major head on car collision at a combined speed of 100 miles an hour. The reason I tell this story is how blessed I was to be in the right place at the right time to meet this Angel, but also to let you know that this adventure was on a Royal Caribbean wave runner excursion from their Private Island of Labadee .

[Florida floater]

Have you been to coco cay lately? No tenders you tie to the dock. Get on or off at your leasure. Plenty of lounge chairs. A great pool, great beaches plenty to do. I dont always cruise to destinations sometimes I just enjoy the ship and the private island just makes it better. I dont always need to meet the locals there plenty of diversity on the ship people from a large portion of the globe. Enjoy the people on the ship there different every trip well maybe to many Hawaiian shirts? 

Edited June 17, 2020 by Florida floater

[clo]

On 6/15/2020 at 5:26 PM, rkacruiser said:

 

You have not been to Ocean Cay.  That might change your mind.

I'd never heard of "private islands" before CC. What's so special about this one?

[clo]

5 hours ago, RonOhio said:

On the cruises, we look for islands that we'd like to visit for the longer stays.

And do you then go back to them?

[sparks1093]

15 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

To call something a “beach”, aside  from needing a wide strip of real, native sand I think the presence of salt water is almost a sine qua non.  While Rye beach is pretty good, it is in the same category as nearby Ogunquit:  too damn cold (with the possible exception of one of the last days in August or first days in September - after a hot Summer). I do not think any beach north of Cape Cod really makes it

True, DW just likes being near the ocean, not that she goes in it much. When we visited her brother in Warnemunde we went to the beach most days but only waded once so we could say that we'd actually been in the Baltic Sea. 

[sparks1093]

15 hours ago, ontheweb said:

It is still swimming! Though DW does wistfully talk of going to Jones Beach for a day. Probably about 140 miles give or take each way  and tolls.

She doesn't go to the beach to swim but to be near the ocean. She could just lay on the beach all day listening to the waves. I'd make it 10 minutes.

[ontheweb]

24 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

She doesn't go to the beach to swim but to be near the ocean. She could just lay on the beach all day listening to the waves. I'd make it 10 minutes.

LOL, You sound like me. After a short time, I tell DW my head is melting. She says we'll stay just a little bit longer.

[sparks1093]

2 hours ago, ontheweb said:

LOL, You sound like me. After a short time, I tell DW my head is melting. She says we'll stay just a little bit longer.

And if she's anything like my DW you're there for several more hours.

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

True, DW just likes being near the ocean, not that she goes in it much. When we visited her brother in Warnemunde we went to the beach most days but only waded once so we could say that we'd actually been in the Baltic Sea. 

On our very first cruise and our very first port, we went to Nice. After the Matisse and Chagall Museums (after all she is an art teacher) she swam in the Mediterranean. I only lasted as long as I did because she plopped our stuff down by several topless French women.

 

On another cruise, she later regretted that she did not swim by the ship after we got back from our tender from Santorini.

[pacruise804]

19 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

To call something a “beach”, aside  from needing a wide strip of real, native sand I think the presence of salt water is almost a sine qua non.  While Rye beach is pretty good, it is in the same category as nearby Ogunquit:  too damn cold (with the possible exception of one of the last days in August or first days in September - after a hot Summer). I do not think any beach north of Cape Cod really makes it

 

Lake Erie is fresh water and yet Presque Isle calls their sandy areas beaches.  That's just one example that easily comes to mind.

 

16 hours ago, RonOhio said:

We go to the Caribbean area once or twice a year, our trips to Eleuthera in May and the Dominican Republic in August have been, sadly, cancelled this year.  I know the Bahamas are in the Atlantic not the Caribbean, but I said "Caribbean area". We VRBO a house on the beach and a car for week or two. Find the where the local fishermen bring in their catch, shop at the markets, eat in the restaurants, snorkel and scuba, drink at the clubs and geocache all over the island. 

We have gone on six or so Caribbean cruises. On the cruises, we look for islands that we'd like to visit for the longer stays.  So we'd have no interest in a Caribbean cruise that only goes to a cruise line operated island. Frankly, I don't understand the attraction of the private islands, if I wanted to look at a bunch of Americans playing, I could go to Six Flags. Certainly, it can be dangerous to wander in unknown cities if you're not alert to your surroundings and we have cancelled trips (Haiti and Egypt) when the civil authorities lost control but the wonder of travel isn't playing beach volleyball with other tourists on a private island (although I'll never forget the redhead in the striped bikini), it's eating jerk chicken in a "restaurant" which is the living room of a tiny house with four unmatched tables and 15 unmatched chairs, it's buying a painting from a sidewalk display because it exactly captures how the town looks to you,  it's your rental car getting stuck in pothole the size of a bathtub and 6 locals building a ramp out of stones, pushing you out and refusing any tips. I mean it was great to see the Pyramids of Giza, the Taj Mahal, Angkor Wat and the Aurora Borealis but the thousands of little, unplanned interactions with the locals and their cultures are my reason to travel.

 

 

I agree that private islands do not tend to give the "wonder of travel" (although those who travel for nature sites can have some sense of wonder with the color of the water).  For many though, cruising is as much if not more about vacation and relaxation as it is about travel.  I enjoy travel but usually do not find it relaxing.  I also enjoy relaxing on a beach or snorkeling in warm waters appreciating marine life, but don't find it culturally enriching 😉 

[George C]

1 hour ago, pacruise804 said:

 

 

 

1 hour ago, pacruise804 said:

 

 

I agree that private islands do not tend to give the "wonder of travel" (although those who travel for nature sites can have some sense of wonder with the color of the water).  For many though, cruising is as much if not more about vacation and relaxation as it is about travel.  I enjoy travel but usually do not find it relaxing.  I also enjoy relaxing on a beach or snorkeling in warm waters appreciating marine life, but don't find it culturally enriching 😉 

after 50 Caribbean cruises we do Caribbean to relax , Europe is totally different I enjoy our Europe cruises but they are not relaxing.